


Compass

by AsphyxiaOrange



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Gen, Reincarnation, arkos, dabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:26:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22344043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsphyxiaOrange/pseuds/AsphyxiaOrange
Summary: Years have past since RWBY and Co have saved the world. The remaining Huntsmen and Huntresses spend most of their time researching and freelancing. Jaune has been working with an ""Apprentice,"" as he calls her, for missions and research.Wanted to play with the idea of a Pyrrha Reincarnation.
Relationships: Jaune Arc & Original Character(s), Jaune Arc & Pyrrha Nikos
Kudos: 5





	Compass

Jaune woke up.

He had no dreams that night. Everything was pitch black- but it was full, satisfying sleep. Maybe he just couldn’t remember.

He stretched.

It was still dark outside, as it was every morning when he awoke. As a professional huntsman- or, a former huntsman- many things that were tedious before were basic routine. As was the coffee, the checking of missions, checking in with Nora and Ren and Oscar.

Sometimes, he’d call one of his sisters, or one of the girls from team RWBY- they were like his bonus-sisters. It seemed that past the whole saving the world bit, that everyone’s lives seemed to fall into place one by one.

Everyone’s except for his.

But he didn’t dwell on it often, it was easy to throw himself into his work. He’d become pretty renowned for a tactician, aside from being so close to the firefight when everything hit the fan. Oh, to be young again. They’d all gotten so old that Weiss’ firstborn was already picking what Academy she would be going to.

Maybe he was just being bitter? After al, he knew everyone else’s’ lives weren’t as perfect as they seemed from the outside- that wouldn’t be life. He closed his compass that was sitting on the desk- how long had he sat here, staring at the map on the wall? He took a sip of coffee- it had long gone cold.

He needed to call someone before they were all at work, or he’d miss his chance today. He pulled up his scroll, and well… scrolled. Ruby was probably at work, Weiss was definitely at work. Maybe the Rens would pick up though, even this late.

The scroll rang for a few moments.

Lie Ren answered. “Hello?” He asked, somewhat upbeat. Jaune could already hear Nora yelling at something in the background.

“Are you already in the field?” Jaune asked.

“Oh, Jaune! Yes, we are in the field,” Lie said matter-of-factly, but it didn’t seem to bug him. Lie turned away from his scroll and yelled “It’s Jaune!” Rather loudly, and that was followed by what was likely an explosion somewhere far behind him.

“Hi Jaune!” could be heard from Nora- she said that between some other unintelligible screaming. It seemed like she was quick to return to whatever she was doing.

“I don’t want to be a bother,” Jaune said. He wheeled his chair away from his desk and took his coffee cup with him. Maybe the microwave would make that one better.

“Nonsense, you’re never a bother,” Lie said this very cheerfully, but a few more loud noises resounded in the background.

Nora followed up by yelling “We love you Jaune!!” very enthusiastically.

Jaune rolled his eyes and punched the numbers into the microwave. “I love you guys too,” he said. He watched the mug spin around as Lie started yelling something back towards Nora. Sounds of the wind rushing into the receiver shrouded the information. Jaune didn’t need to know, anyways. They wouldn’t be chatting so casually if it were a real emergency.

Jaune shook his head, though, distractions were not to be had on missions. “I’ll let you guys go- my apprentice will be here soon,” he said, “I’ll try to call earlier tomorrow.”

Lie said “Okay!” and then immediately hung up.

Jaune knew that they were sincere, but he also knew they were busy. He’s the one who zoned out for so long staring at the maps.

He took the coffee out of the microwave and took a sip, but it tasted even worse than before. He grumbled and poured it into the sink- he’d just make another pot when his “apprentice” arrived.

He returned to the map empty handed. He pulled up his scroll- was there a job posting nearby maybe? He was sure that Geneia would love to be in the field instead of studying all day in some dusty old shack. There wasn’t much- if anything, a few missions that he would’ve been able to knock out in a half hour or so. Nothing was on the logs that would take up a good amount of time.

He figured it’d be like that. He would have to check the board in town later for anything better, and even that was pushing it. Hunstman jobs- or rather- ex-huntsman jobs, were becoming less and less physical since the gods had returned. Most of their use was reduced to pest control, bounty hunting, extradition, and varied civil disputes. He supposed that not all fighting would be glory- he’d learned that in his youth plenty of times, too.

Jaune scratched his head and looked at the clock. The sun had already risen- so where was she? He jilted when there was a knock at the door. He pushed his chair away and went to investigate. There was another knock right before he opened the door wide.

Books spilled to his feet and Geneia stumbled. Jaune caught her arms and pushed her upright right away before she could fall to the floor. He looked down at the pile of history books. _Where did she get these from_ , he wondered. He raised his eyebrows.

“I’m sorry!” She said as she dove at the pile to pick them up. It seemed she had them against the door in her arms so she could use her hand to knock. It was wholly clever in theory, but poorly executed.

He leaned down and stole half of the pile from her and moved it to the table. She followed briskly to reunite her haorde.

“What are all these for?” He asked. She usually brought a few over, but not this many.

“Oh,” She leaned away, as if it were something to be guilty about, but then she bounced back pretty quickly. “I got a little carried away,” She smiled. She tapped her hands on the books rhythmically.

He shook his head and have her a weak smile.

“I had questions about Old Remnant,” She said, and dove right in. A book in the center of the pile was a recent publication- one about how the schools used to run in the heyday of Second remnant. He leaned an arm onto the table- he might be here awhile.

“So if the vaults were no longer necessary after the relics were returned to the Gods, right?” She asked as she flipped through the thick tome. “So if they have the space, wouldn’t they be able to use those rooms for storage?” She turned the text book around to show a picture of the vault in Vale.

Jaune leaned forward and flipped the page for her, so that it would show the bridged area beneath Haven Academy. “It would work in theory for Beacon, but the area below Haven is extremely unstable, and a little cramped to be honest.” He shook his head and tapped the page with his index finger.

Geneia had a lot of ideas, not a lot to follow them through with. Her matter seemed like it was basically a lack of putting things into practice. He watched her expressions change carefully as she thought about it another moment.

“But construction-wise, you could easily stabilize it,” without breaking eye contact she slid another book from the table and opened it up to a pre-marked page. “These supports that they’ve developed in Atlas to make safer mining conditions could easily apply to the out-vault area.” The look on her face was almost smug.

Jaune crossed his arms and matched her look. “So who would be funding this? A bakesale?” He asked.

She smiled wide, her cheeks pushed up beneath her bright green eyes. “Schnee industries? Alumni Donations?”

Jaune shook his head. He was impressed with how bright she could be, but this wasn’t a conversation he wanted to pursue in earnest. “If you wanna call Schnee Industries, be my guest,” he said.

He started to examine the rest of the pile she brought. There were eight more books- Grimm Anatomy, Weapon Building Theory 301, Etc. Her desire to be just like the Huntresses of old was… something else.

Jaune glanced at her. He thought it was almost a shame that most of the Huntsman work had nothing to do with Grimm now, he was sure that she would’ve made an excellent fighter.

She put the first three books aside. “I know you know someone at Schnee-co,” she said with lowered eyes, “You’ve gotten favors from them before.”

Jaune took a step away from the table. “Coffee?” he asked. Partly to change to subject, partly because he needed it if he was going to be interrogated further. He walked to the kitchen before she could stop him.

She nodded and complied by dropping the subject for the time being. She would bring it up later- after coffee. She took a deep breath as she heard the coffee maker start to make its usual clunky noises. She settled into one of the comfier padded chairs near the desk and looked over the research that he had left untouched.

He called out from the kitchen, unable to let the silence linger. “Did you not have all these bright ideas when you were in the academy?” He asked. He wasn’t being sarcastic. After all, many professors knew “important figures” across Third Remnant.

She picked up a loose page and squinted at it. “I tried to lay low in school…” She said, quietly. Her auburn red hair fell over the pages and she leaned over the desk and away from him. She noticed the compass at the far edge- a little trinket made of metal.

He looked away from the coffee pot, but he couldn’t read her body language very well. Something seemed off. He looked at the fridge- maybe she hadn’t eaten breakfast?

“You Hungry?” Jaune asked. He tried to not make it obvious that her comment worried him. He wondered if openly worrying for her would be a bit too much for their level of friendship.

“Oh, I’m alright,” she said, and looked back with a smile.

He squinted at her as she turned back around, and then got out a pan anyways. She was often modest- and if food was the problem, he was determined to fix it. “Well, I’m hungry,” He said as he started the fire on the stovetop. Plus, any moment he didn’t have to pore over the late Ozma’s writings felts like a blessing.

He threw a few eggs in the pan since it would be quick to make. Even on a lie, he had no trouble eating a second breakfast.

Geneia put her hands on the back of the chair and pivoted around so that she was facing the back. Her face was against the chair, with only her eyes peeking over- and they were starry.

He stole a glance back, and took that as a sign that she really must have been hungry.

There was a small ticking noise that started to click back a forth as he cooked. He looked around- he could’ve sworn that he was imagining it. Geneia was just sitting across the room with both of her hands holding up papers, but it was coming from over near her- maybe he foot was tapping something.

As he finished setting the table, the noise was gone. Jaune figured it was just exhaustion, if nothing else.

Geneia hopped up and joined him at the table, but brought a few of the pages with her. _Oh great_ , he thought, _research at the breakfast table_. Jaune wanted a _break_. Geneia dug into her food with a fork in one hand and continued to read the page in the other.

“Did you do all the annotations like this?” She asked with a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“That bad?” He asked. His cup of coffee hovered a few inches from his face. He could smell it waiting for him, but he felt like he had to wait and make sure Geneia didn’t say it was the worst thing she’d ever read.

She looked up from her papers with wide eyes. “No! no,” she said quickly, “They’re…” she paused to think of a word, but none of the ones she could think of really fit.

His head slowly descended into one hand and he set the coffee cup down. He knew it, he must have been doing it wrong.

“It’s acceptable- really,” she said with a hope to recover, “for a first draft it’s-“

“It’s the third draft,” He said as his face emerged from his hand.

She pressed her lips together. She was both pitying him and herself. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Give it here,” he said with a wave of his hand. She looked at it one more time, but obliged. He snatched it from her, crumpled it up, and threw it across the room onto the desk. “We can talk about it later,” he said.

She stood up abruptly and went to retrieve it. He set down his fork, annoyed.

She straightened out the page and walked back over with it. “This work is _amazing_ , Jaune,” she said sincerely.

He scoffed, “I didn’t go to school to research, I’m not amazing at it.”

“It’s filled with amazing insight and worth, it just isn’t proper format,” Geneia held it to her chest. The muffled clicking noise started once more, from the desk. What was that sound?

“You know better than I do that research is your thing,” he said. His voice got a little louder. What was she even on about? It was starting to aggravate him.

“Yes, but you’re not bad at it,” she said with a small smile and matched his volume.

Where was that damned clicking coming from?

“Yes, I’m bad at it,” he held his hands up in protest, exasperated.

_Click._

_Click._

“No, with a little help you’ll-”

“Pyrrha I don’t need-!” Jaune was nearly shouting. He stopped himself from saying anything further.

_Click._

_Click._

He paused.

_Click, click, click._

He set his hands down on the table gently.

There was one final _click_. Geneia still held the paper to her chest with both hands. “Pyrrha?” she watched the frozen Jaune carefully.

Jaune pushed away from the table and went to his room and closed the door.

Geneia held out a hand as he passed by as if to stop him, but it was ignored. She looked around the room. There wasn’t much she could do now. She took a deep breath and put the research back on the desk.

She leaned over the compass and watched it carefully. It wasn’t pointing north as it should. She picked it up and it started to spin wildly. She hadn’t often seen Jaune retreat before, but she knew she couldn’t do much about it now- no matter how much she wanted to.

Instead she tried to remember how he looked when he was cooking for her. She looked at the table, she didn’t want to waste the effort he made to make her food. He shoulders dropped. He had said he was hungry too, and now she felt like it was her fault that he wouldn’t eat.

She took a deep breath and then stared at the compass, and it began to _click_. She wasn’t sure why it was reacting to her like that. It was odd. She set it back down.

Jaune put himself in a corner of his room. He wasn’t mad as much as he just needed time to sort out his thoughts. He thought about how she acted when they first met. How long had he ignored how Geneia acted so much like his old teammate?

Now, he would be mad at himself. He would question his own motives. Was she ever really his apprentice for her benefit, or for his?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm not really an Arkos shipper to begin with, but I wanted to play with the idea of Pyrrha reincarnating and meeting Jaune again. Regardless, I hope it will be enjoyable of a read for all of you! I hope you liked it!


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